Stop. Listen. Hear that Idea?

It Happens Constantly

I can almost count on it happening. When I’m stuck on how to write something, when I really need some direction on how to frame a concept, I just start listening for one. Sure enough in a day or two, someone will say something.

I was working on the post for Critical Skill 5: Originality — no small task I might add. How do you talk about being original? I did my usual walking and thinking, but most of my way to original thinking is intuitive, hard to explain in words.

I like challenges, but sometimes they make my head hurt. So I put my question to the universe and left myself open to any answer it might bring me. Sure enough, it did within a couple of hours.

Talking About Originality

The question was how to define originality? It’s not any easy thing to put into words, especially when trying to frame it in terms of adding value to ideas. That’s abstract on two levels. Hmmm.

Along comes Steve Remington with a great blog idea, Why My Blog Stinks. I think it’s worth sharing — it’s refreshing, inviting, clever, and for some reason I don’t hate orange when I look at it. So I write a post about it. A conversation starts. A few comments down I start hearing my answer.

Martin Says:
Liz,
More than fun, itÃ¢â¬â¢s an original idea, in a sea of Ã¢â¬Åsame old, same oldÃ¢â¬? blogs.

ItÃ¢â¬â¢s one thing getting all this advice about how to do it right, this one gives an insight into what others have done wrong.

[I snipped a bit here. Steve blushed and said thank you.]

Martin Says:
Hey there Steve,

Is there anything original these days? Who cares. YouÃ¢â¬â¢ve taken a germ of an idea and made something of it.

Thanks for your interest in my blog. ItÃ¢â¬â¢s still in launch phase (ie: I have 25 things on my To Do list for it) – so thereÃ¢â¬â¢s so much more to come.

Did you hear it? Martin said it.

YouÃ¢â¬â¢ve taken a germ of an idea and made something of it.

Add the word unique and I have my definition.

I can’t help but wonder how long the conversation might have been, if I had asked Martin straight out to define originality. . . .

Here’s the Trick

Like I said, answers like these come to me all of the time, when I know what I’m listening for. Great ideas are the best promotion for any blog . . . I listen for ideas in every conversation.
The trick is to tell yourself what you’re listening for. Tune your radar to a certain subject, like I did to the subject of originality. Then your mind will be sensitive to the topic when it comes up and you’ll hear what you need to hear. It’s that simple.

Comments

Hi Steve,
He’s right on there. That’s how ideas work.The problem of not having ideas is really one of not lettiing the valve between the subconscious and conscious mind open to let the information you’ve been collecting get through.

Sorry, but this is pseudo-mystical nonsense, all this “just relax and let it flow” talk.

For me, originality is hard work, making an effort to spice up one’s life with unusual problems, horrid nightmarish situations, art, poetry, love, laughter, suffering, and difficult music.

To cultivate originality, one must break from routine, not just sit around and be passive. This is one technique, but for me this contemplative, floating state must come long after the intense study of Original Thinkers.

Hi Stephen,
This isn’t pseudo anything it’s science. To put it simply there is a a valve-like screening device at the base of our brainsÃ¢â¬âthe Reticular Activating System (RAS). The RAS allows us to filter out most of that unwanted stimuli. It serves as a closed door allowing only life-skill information into our consciouness. Unfortunately with the valve closed we donÃ¢â¬â¢t have access to some stimuli, i.e. great ideas.

Of course, you need to have the experiences you are describing to have the stimuli in the first place — no discounting the value of that. However, the basic problem is not the inability to have ideas the problem stopping ourselves from having them.

I’m not clear on how the RAS filters out non-essential data, as you put it, “allowing only life-skill information into our consciousness”.

I see human consciousness loaded with Non Life Skill Information.

Humans do not improve ethically very much, if at all. And our life-skills diminish at astonishing rates of speed, as technology and it’s “imperative” rush forward, leaving humananity behind in our sacks of rotting flesh.

I think Freud, Lacan, and others have clearly demonstrated that consciousness is full of detrimental habit-thoughts, perceptual confusion, and much ideational illusion.

We live in a mass influenced dream state most of the time, with rare twinklings of independent pre-thought impulses that manifest in genius or benevolence.

First of all, you really are reading the wrong post . . . this is the pre-post post 😉

Anyway, the post about the RAS is Critical Skill 2 of the 10 Skills Critical to Your Future. (I Bet that got you going).

The RAS is what keeps us from thinking about random stimuli that we don’t need to consider, sensory details for example, that are unimportant in our immediate interactions. However those same sensory details when combined and recombined in new and interesting ways can build into creative, fluent, and elaborate, original ideas.

The idea of “sleeping on a problem” which allows your subconscious to work on the problem while you sleep has been proven to be a valid way to problem solve. Some problems take more than one night. But the reason that it works is because access to the subconscious is opne when we’re sleeping.

This isn’t hocus pocus. It’s brain science. Of course, creative types are prone to the most functional forms of schizo-form disorders is the most recent science of all. 🙂

When you leave a link next time, could you try to leave a bit more about what’s here? I almost tossed this link as spam. That would have been a loss for both of us, and for my readers. Sure am glad that I didn’t. 🙂
Liz

That was a great list. Personally I think people freak too much over Google. Just my opinion. Not that we shouldn’t keep in mind good techniques to provide us with the best ranking possible but I think there are so many people out there who get so worked up over it that they can’t concentrate on their blog. All while they are trying to somehow fool Google they could be writing content. I actually wrote an article about it at my new blog here:http://whymyblogstinks.com/?p=23

Yeah, Steve,
I agree. It’s a forest for the trees thing. People forget that Google runs on ad revenues which are paid for by people who do searches. . . . AND that their index is only part algorithm and checked again by, you guessed it, people.

Google likes people because they pay the bills. So they are as invested in quality content that readers want to read as our readers are. They track how long our readers stay at our blogs, how they got here, where they came from and where they go.

If we entice them by key word saturation and nothing more, Google won’t be impressed either, because the people will click right off us and Google will know.

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